Mass Combat Question

[zanshin]

Oct 17, 2017 4:29:51 GMT -5 mahrundl said:

These are just off-the-cuff ideas, and I don't know whether they'd play out well. You could allow more spreading of damage from missiles and magic as follows:

An archer might be able to hit more than one target by making more / harder saving rolls, in conjunction with spreading the damage from their bow. If a 2nd level SR was needed to hit, with a 3rd level SR you might be able to split your damage equally between 2 targets, and with a 4th level SR you might be able to hit 3, or split the damage unevenly, or something else.

Likewise, a high level Wizard might be able to split her 4th level TTYF so that it does her IQ in damage to each of 3 or 4 different targets, rather than many times her IQ in damage to a single target.

Something to consider, if the idea grabs you...

I agree , I would allow these as stunts. Good thinking Mahrundl.

Remember that in dT&T casters get to fight and cast - if they were doing a stunt like that I would probably require they could not also fight.

[khaboom]

I'd normally go the hard way (because it seems 'right') but sometimes I'd take the 'untrained rabble' route.

[Bud]

For some more mass combat ideas, check out Battlefields & Banners, it's T&T miniatures wargaming at the Tied to a Kite website.

[ProfGremlin]

Oct 23, 2017 13:46:09 GMT -5 khaboom said:

I'd normally go the hard way (because it seems 'right') but sometimes I'd take the 'untrained rabble' route.

Fezzick - "I'm on the brute squad."
Miracle Max - [Double-take] "You are the brute squad!"

[joelmarler]

Battlefield & Banners looks awesome!

[graymouser65]

I have always felt and treated it as three MR 15 goblins (2 dice + 8 adds each for a total of 6 dice and 24 adds) are more difficult to fight than one MR 45 orc (5 dice plus 23 adds) although as the fight wears on they will become very similar to each other.

More importantly, what I have always liked about T&T combat is it captures the idea of a true melee far better IMO than “that other game” in whatever edition you want to look at. One of the “gamey” things about “that other game” especially starting with 3.0 and later editions is what I refer to as the “Thermopolae” situation. Even as a player, let alone as a GM, I’ve always hated this situation. Two fighters stand in a doorway and keep 20 goblins at bay in an adjacent room to protect a wizard who is standing 20 feet behind the fighters trying to stay out of the melee. Not only do the fighters keep the goblins from getting past them in “that other game,” they also only have suffer attack rolls from the goblins that are within 10 feet of them, meaning that probably 14 goblins don’t do anything (assuming they have no missile weapons). I find this, frankly, more than a little silly.

Not so in T&T. First, the combat turn is 2 minutes long, which allows the goblins plenty of time to shuttle every goblin forward for a go at the two fighters standing in the doorway. So the two fighters have to fight in melee against 20 goblins, not 6 or so. Second, if I was the GM I would have the fighters each roll a saving roll vs. STR. If they failed the saving roll, the amount they failed by would be the number of goblins that managed to get past them and will during the next turn force the wizard to be a part of this melee.

This sort of chaotic, “swirling” melee is much easy to represent in T&T combat than “that other game’s” combat system IMO.

[zanshin]

I agree 3 goblins are more difficult to fight - at the same time, if you can get the advantage, they go down quicker and the fight becomes easier. I follow your interpretation of dice and adds.

Also stunts that take one little guy out of a combat should be easier than one big guy.

It is the system working as intended.